Should I Have Connected Quick Disconnect (Out) While Carbonating

Pretty much what the title says. I kegged my beer last night and hooked up the CO2 line and the liquid out line. After an hour or two went and looked back at the regulator to make sure the PSI was holding and noticed that the liquid out line already had some beer flowing through it. Is there any issue with this/should I have waited to connect the liquid out till after it was done carbonating?

Thanks.

I like to do that as SOP... I got burnt by a leaky poppit once, and attaching the beer line is easy insurance for me.

I guess I'm confused by your reply. Are you saying it's ok with what I did, and how that is insurance for you.

Thanks.

Yep. it is ok.


It is insurance for me, because the leaky poppit incident resulted in a lot of beer on the floor. Hooking up the beer out line ensures that will not happen.

Jaysus said:

Yep. it is ok.


It is insurance for me, because the leaky poppit incident resulted in a lot of beer on the floor. Hooking up the beer out line ensures that will not happen.

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Not really. If any other piece of that was broken, you still had potential for a disaster. In this specific case it was insurance, but what if, say, your blowoff valve broke? I personally do NOT hook up the beer line when carbing. Doesn't make much sense, since you're pushing 30psi through the keg. Having at least $30 worth of beer @ 30psi held back by a $3 picnic tap seems like a horrible idea.

If, on the other hand, you're slow force-carbing (aka hooking it to 12psi and leaving it for 2-3 wks), then yeah, you're fine hooking up to a tap.

So should I unhook the liquid out quick disconnect and drain the line?

I left my beer line on when I was force carbing and lost an entire keg and CO2 canister to a crappy picnic tap. I don't leave mine connected anymore, even when I have a carbed beer.

Disconnect it and clear the line. Make sure the poppit isn't leaking.

This all reminds me that I still have beer in my keg. I think I'll ask my kids to throw some ice bottles in the cooler so it's cold when I get home.

LiquidFlame said:

So should I unhook the liquid out quick disconnect and drain the line?

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Meh. If you trust your equipment, you can leave everything hooked up all the time, and pour when the brew is ready.

Otoh, if you have any trepidation about your system, the fewer things hooked up, the better...

Cheers!

I left my line on overnight the other night and when I checked in the morning the tank pressure had gone down, so it was very slowly losing gas. I woke up in the middle of the night and realized I had done that but was too sleepy to get up and take it off. At least I didn't lose the whole tank like last time. I didn't see any beer leaks so I don't really know what happened.

Did you boil the large o-ring for the lid before sealing the keg? It softens the rubber and helps form a tight seal.